Media blues: Play me that number, again

As polling day draws near, practically all of the news bulletins on Malaysian television increasingly and aggressively promote the incumbent BN to the exclusion of other competing political parties in the country. It can be excruciatingly painful for Malaysians who hunger for fair and intellectually challenging reporting.

But, alas, life may not be that torturous if we care to look at the bright side of things. Sports news in these TV news bulletins provides rare glimpses of what could constitute balanced journalism. At the very least, the reports generally provide equal soundbytes to, for instance, the two opposing sides in a football match.

And if sport news is not your cup of tea, then there’s a promise of comic relief, at least for those viewers who subscribe to Astro. Last Wednesday night, those who opted to give the “boring” TV news a miss saw the return of the indefatigable William Hung in the popular singing contest of the “American Idol”, crooning again that unmistakable number called “She Bangs”. In this contest, we get to see the talents, or lack of, of all the contestants concerned and each is given almost equal airtime.

Hopefully, our mainstream media can learn a thing or two about equal coverage on political matters from this.